Beausejour senior league coming to LBR

The Beausejour Senior Hockey League is coming to Saint John.

In a social media post on Sunday, it was announced that the "Saint John Flames" will be reborn and become a member of the popular senior circuit beginning this fall.

From the Saint John Flames Facebook page:

THE FLAMES ARE BACK 🔥 

Saint John hockey just got its identity back. We’re proud to announce the return of the Saint John Flames as the newest Sr. A team in the Beausejour Senior Hockey League. This isn’t just another team, this is history, culture, and community coming back to life in this city.

For generations, the Flames meant something here. Packed rinks, hard-nosed hockey, and a standard that never slipped. Now it’s our turn to bring that back and build something the city can rally behind again.

The team will play their home games at the Lord Beaverbrook Rink. A website has already been launched with an online merch store.

The BSHL has been steadily growing in popularity in recent years. This past season, the league ended its season with six teams: Amherst, Bouctouche, Dalhousie, Elsipogtog, Fredericton and Miramichi. The regular season began in mid-October and the playoffs ended in late March.

The league is loaded with former QMJHL players – including quite a few Saint John Sea Dogs alumni. Former Sea Dogs forward Ryan Tesink (Fredericton) and Dawson Stairs (Dalhousie) finished second and third, respectively, in league scoring.

The Flames will no doubt look to follow the same steps the Fredericton Express took this past season. Not only was the team very good on the ice, but the Express sold out most of their home games and had a real buzz around them. 

What does this mean for the Sea Dogs? While the Flames will likely build out their schedule to not overlap with Sea Dogs home games, this does give the Dogs some competition for the the attention and money of the city's hockey fans – and it's coming from just down the road at the LBR.

For Sea Dogs fans, this is likely a great thing. Fans get more hockey to watch (and, let's be brutally honest: hockey with fighting), former Sea Dogs will be in action frequently and it puts further pressure on the Dogs to put together a great product on and off the ice.

Armada stun Wildcats in final second to force Game 7; Sagueneens advance to final

Sebastien Gervais/Blainville-Boisbriand Armada

A Justin Carbonneau goal with 0.5 seconds remaining in regulation time has forced a Game 7 in the semifinal playoff series between the Moncton Wildcats and Blainville-Boisbriand Armada.

After a Bill Zonnon faceoff win in the offensive zone, Carbonneau ripped a perfectly placed shot top corner on Wildcats goaltender Rudy Guimond to give the Armada a 3-2 lead – their first and only lead of the game.

Justin Carbonneau, at the very last second!!! 😤😤😤
@ArmadaBLB wins 3-2 and forces a Game 7, tuesday in Moncton!#QPlayoffs | #Proxi | @StLouisBlues | #stlbluespic.twitter.com/Fo2972BO0y

— QMJHL (@QMJHL) May 3, 2026

Xavier Villeneuve had tied the game at 19:12 of the third period with goaltender Zach Pelletier – who got the start in place of the injured William Lacelle – on the bench.

In short, the Wildcats were 48 seconds away from advancing to the Gilles Courteau Trophy final. Now they're hading back to Moncton to prepare for a Game 7 on Tuesday night. It will be fascinating to see if this devastating loss impacts the Wildcats at all.

Maël Lavigne also scored for the Armada. He has scored in five of the six games in this series.

Former Saint John Sea Dogs forwards Jacob Beaulieu and Elliot Dubé did not register any points in the victory. Beaulieu had one hit while Dubé had one shot.

Former Sea Dogs defenseman Max Vilen had one shot and was a +1 in the loss.

The winner of this series will take on the Chicoutimi Sagueneens in the QMJHL's championship series. The Sags defeated the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies 6-3 on Sunday to take the semifinal in six games. This will be Chicoutimi's first appearance in the league final since 1997.

Notebook: Murnieks, Latvia finish fourth at U18 worlds

Micheline Veluvolu/IIHF

Saint John Sea Dogs forward Olivers Murnieks and Team Latvia finished fourth at the IIHF U18 Men's World Championship.

The Latvians fell 4-1 to Czechia in the event's bronze medal game on Saturday. On Friday, Latvia fell 1-0 to Slovakia in the semifinals, forcing them into the third-place game.

Murnieks had one shot and was a -2 in 21:08 of ice time – which led the team. He finished the tournament with a goal and five assists in seven games.

Following Friday's game, Murnieks was named one of Latvia's top three players of the tournament.

Sweden defeated host Slovakia 4-2 in the gold medal game.

Sea Dogs forward Alexis Joseph and defenseman Cameron Chartrand were part of Team Canada, who were eliminated in the quarterfinals. Sea Dogs draft pick Jamie Glance was a member of Team USA, who also fell in the quarterfinals.

CRICKARD MEETS MEDIA

Former Sea Dogs head coach Travis Crickard met with the Swift Current media via Zoom this past week.

Crickard was named the Broncos new head coach and general manager last Friday.

The Southwest Booster and Swift Current Online both have stories on the hiring. CTV also posted a couple videos.

Murnieks, Latvia to play for U18 bronze; Wildcats, Sagueneens a win away from final

Micheline Veluvolu/IIHF

MONCTON - Olivers Murnieks and Team Latvia will play for bronze at the IIHF U18 Men's World Championship.

Latvia, coming off a major upset of the United States in the quarterfinals, fell 1-0 to host Slovakia in semifinal play on Friday. The Latvians were outshot 22-14 in the loss.

Latvia will play Czechia in the bronze medal game on Saturday morning. Slovakia will take on Sweden for gold.

Murnieks had two shots and was a -1 in 22:18 of ice time – which was the second most on the team. The Saint John Sea Dogs forward has a goal and five assists in six games at the event.

Murnieks was named one of Latvia's best players of the tournament after the game.

Par labākajiem trīs Latvijas U-18 izlases hokejistiem atzīti Patriks Plūmiņš, Olivers Mūrnieks un Martins Klaucāns 🇱🇻#U18MensWorlds #hokejs pic.twitter.com/9DkHymQPdT

— Rems Ratņikovs (@HKJ_Apskatnieks) May 1, 2026

A few other Friday night news and notes...

• The Moncton Wildcats are a win away from returning to the QMJHL final for a second straight season. Teddy Mutryn and Tommy Bleyl each had a goal and two assists in Moncton's 6-2 victory over the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada on Friday at Avenir Centre.
• Niko Tournas, who scored 43 goals in the regular season, ended a seven-game goalless streak with a third period marker. He hadn't scored since Game 1 of the second round.
• Former Sea Dogs forward Jacob Beaulieu left the game briefly in the third period after taking a big hit along the boards. He did return to the game and was given an unsportsmanlike misconduct at 14:24 of the third period. Beaulieu finished a +1 and had three hits.
• Former Sea Dog Elliot Dubé, meanwhile, went 3/5 on faceoffs in the loss. Max Vilen had one assist and four shots for the Wildcats.
• Armada goaltender William Lacelle left the game in the third period with an apparent lower body injury. He had to be helped off the ice following Moncton's fifth goal.
• Three of the four officials – including both referees – that worked last Saturday's Armada/Wildcats game worked this game. Last Saturday's game ended with both benches emptying onto the ice for a lengthy gathering after the game.
• Game 6 is Sunday in Boisbriand.
• The Chicoutimi Sagueneens are also a win away from the QMJHL final after defeating the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies 4-0. Lucas Beckman stopped all 21 shots he faced in the shutout. Game 6 is Sunday in Rouyn-Noranda.